BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Gov. Bobby Jindal has given up a traditional freebie granted to Louisiana governors and sought by thousands of state residents: free LSU football tickets.
Jindal said Wednesday that he won't accept the 10 tickets his office controls in the university's suite at Tiger Stadium.
The reason has to do with his push to do away with free tickets to sports and cultural events for legislators, a proposal that was approved during his ethics special session in February.
"We thought it was the right thing to do to give up those tickets. I know it's been a long-standing tradition, but we pushed hard in the ethics session to say that we want to end this practice of free tickets. We thought it was important to set that example," the governor said.
That decision is a far cry from the days of former Gov. Huey Long, who famously led the university's marching band into Tiger Stadium.
Although Jindal is surrendering his LSU tickets, the governor's executive counsel said the governor will not be giving up his free access to the New Orleans Superdome and the New Orleans Arena, which are state-owned facilities where the governor has a private box.
Jindal's decision means the tickets will instead be given to chancellors and deans of LSU's various campuses, who will be encouraged to invite potential donors, university spokesman Charles Zewe said.
"The intent is that it will be used as an institutional development tool," Zewe said.
The university's suite sits above the 50-yard line at the 92,000-seat stadium and includes 134 seats controlled by the school. LSU has set aside up to a dozen seats, free of charge, to the governor's office since the west side of the stadium was renovated in 2005. Before that, governors had a private box in the southwest corner of the stadium.
The tickets have long been a way for governors to lubricate relationships with legislators, economic development prospects and others.
"There's a lot of politics and a lot of business conducted" in the suites, said Bob Mann, a former communications director for former Gov. Kathleen Blanco who is now a professor at LSU. "A lot of people aren't really watching the game, as they are socializing and getting to know each other better."
Mann said he's never heard any criticism of governors for getting free tickets.
"It seems to me, in this state, the impolitic thing to do is to snub LSU tickets," he said.
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